The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1887-01-14
MASQUERADING.

WaysrIy Magazine.
II declare ! am ashamed OF my
ssx!" exclaimed Mabel Lee, as she
had been reading with an expression
ofextreme disgust on lrer usually merry
& face.
.sWhy, what has your sex been do
ing?" asked her brother Walter, look
ing up in surprise from his writing
desk.
j Isn't this enough to make any
modest girl blush?" said Mabel, taking
mp the paper. "Such an advertise
mont! And they are getting quite
common, too-just listen:
"sAyounglady not much over TWEEN.
ty, handsome, intelligent and moder-
! ately wealthy, wishes to open a CORE
spondence with young or middle
/ aged single gentleman. Object, mutual
Improvement and perhaps matri-
mony. Address Annie Laurie"
well, what harm is there in that?"
ssid Walter. "Ayounglady not much
over twenty wants husband. No
doubt she has exhausted the means
that are usually employed to obtain
the article, and the newspaper is her
last resort. ] wish her success, and
think the time is not far distant when
husbands and kitchen maids will be
advertised for in the same column of
wants"
II don't, " said Mabel, "and protest
against a woman's advertising her
heart forsale as she would her house" !"
81 think the idea is good one"
said Walter, much more honest and
sensible than to plaster h& yellow
lace with cosmetics, pile several ounces
OF false hair over her own scanty locks
and entrap some poor fellow into q
proposal, who sooner or later, finds
himself engaged to one OF these self
made young ladies; and for the life Of
him he cannot tell how it came
/ about
Few women are Obliged to resort
to such measures, and even that is
not 30 bad, when the men are silly
enough to fall into such traps, as to
come out in a glaring advertisement.
! So you see I am going to make an ex.
ample OF Annie Laurie, provided you
will help me.
What shall do? Answer the ad
vertisement and follow it up with 8
correspondence that will end, as the
writer suggests, in matrimony?n
Not exactly. will answer the ad
vertisement, pretending to be q man
of course. You see, she is an old maid
and no doubt her heart is pretty vel
E calioused by previous disappoint
ments, and not likely to suffer much
from another, and when she sees hel
adorer--for ! will appoint q place tc
meet her, after awhile, and give her lee
ture on woman's rights-and wrongs
want you to mail the letters and bt
with me at the denoucment. Won't il
be fun?''
Walter Lee. fresh from college in
trigues, entered readily into the prac
tical joke, and Mabel, opening her desk
wrote, ina large, masculine hand, the
following:
Miss ANNE: / am widower O
thirty-five. good looking and indus
tr.ious, with a well furnished house
But ! am very lonely since the lily O
my heart dropped into the dust. My
sainted Mary Ann! How miss he,
sweet presence! And unless some 9th
er fairy form will come to fill the ach
ing void left in my heart, it's walls vii
certainly cave in with the pressure o.
grief believe in second love. Does
the candle flame 20 out because an
other has been lighted from it? Their
why should the flame of love 90 out
with the light it has bestowed upor
abotherY
The first consolation that came tc
me in the dark hours OF my bereave
ment was the thought that the COLDER
gates of nlatrimony would again ooer
at my bidding. The fact that / SC
dearly loved my angel, Mary Ann, is
proof positive that could love with
i equal fervor one equally worthy.
Now. my dear young lady, ii you re-
ceive another answer to your adver
tisenient that impresses you more fa
vorably than mine, you need not an
swer this, and will seek elsewhere for
y one to heal my wounded heart. Until
then am yours, truly,
ROBIN ADAIR.
This letter Walter carried eleefuly
to the post Office, and three days later
startled Robin Adair" who was
standing before the mirror pulling at
q mass of golden brown hair, that in,
sisted upon taking its own natural
wave instead OF the fashionable
French one its owner was trying to
produce.
Ny dear sir, here is letter for
you, : said Walter, holding toward
4 her diminutive, rose-colored envel.
ops. But hadn't you better take nv
hat and cigar case, and try to look q
little more masculine?' he added
langhingly. II fancy if Annie Laurie
were to see you now, she would sell
her matrimonial interest in you for
ft1iesor nothing"
II make fer willing to add pre-
y milm to the price Of nothing" said
Mabel rs she tore open the envelope
The letter was written in nsmall, stiff
looking characters, as though the All,
thor aimed at being neat, but only
succeeded in being prim. It ran as
I follows:
Ny DEAR SIR: received no answe,
to my advertisement that valued as
do yours. ! am somewhat bashfn
and hall regretted writing the notice
& fearing the gentlemen would think me
bold and ulimaidenly. But on read
1 ing your letter my regrets all vanish
ed. The same sentiments which IL
breathed have sllirnbered for years il
my own heart though they have
4 never yet been awakened by the pos
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